The First Floor Bar- Cane and Grain Review

Although nice place and atmosphere, the food was way too greasy!

Love it upstairs, good music and the staff are the best, drinks are good price and poured well

Nice music every Tuesday night. Cocktail was not the best.

Great place to go for a drink, will definitely be back next I'm in Manchester

Decent place to go in the northern quarter, good music. It always seems to be busy when I go.

Secret door led to the science and industry bar. Very interesting cocktails and good decor

An exceptional club with a positive atmosphere, notes of 10, and ok prices

Great staff, good beer, open late, whats not to like

The menu revolves around pork so it's limited for people who want a bit of variety. Table service especially for good is dreadfully slow. 35 minutes for our starter and another 15 minutes for our mains which were a burger and salad! With that said it was a Saturday night on payday weekend. The food and ambience are well above average so it's worth giving it a try on another day and see for yourself.

Visited today and met by a totally ignorant and awful young person. The woman in question needs to be reminded of what her job yes job is.

Ordered the Los Pollos, chicken was undercooked and pink by the bone. Needed another 10-15 minutes in the oven. Poor service, no one came over to ask if everything was ok with the food. I found it quite rude tbh. Would never go there again.

Great food, nice music and people! And I do mean great food !!!

Pretty chilled, decent music, good variety of drinks and not too expensive. Plus it's open later than pretty much all other places around NQ through the week

Best beef I've tasted in a long time, I'm definitely going back. Well worth the visit.

This is probably the most piss-poor establishment masquerading as a 'hip' bar I've been in. And I've been to a lot of bars. Outdoor seating in Manchester is at a premium, especially in the NQ, this was occupied by, what we ascertained to be, staff not yet on shift.



On seeing that it hadn't been eaten we were offered an apology by the bar maid (the bar men were too busy sorting out their baseball caps to actually give a toss) and she was probably the only good thing about this place. No service recovery took place. We had barely touched our food,but still have the salt sweats
If I were you, I'd go somewhere else. There's loads of better places around here.

Great alternative pub/bar with a drink for everyone from beers to cocktails. The food looked with good especially if you like your meat. Good atmosphere, decoration on the wall with music for the alternative taste.

Transphobic door policy turned away a friend of mine for wearing the same style of clothes as several women already dinner, because "you're not a girl". Bouncer was a dick, restaurant looked into the incident and declared my friend a liar rather than apologizing. Do not touch with a barge pole.

A fantastic selection of worldwide beers - done very strong. I would suggest asking for the bar person to recommend one based on your requirements.



There isn't a huge amount of time during lunchtime so do arrive early.

Dirty, dark and dingy interior. I had a chicken burger which was not great. It was a bit dry and bland.
My main beef with this establishment is the rudeness of one of the members of staff there. I asked if they did any European lager such as Peroni of Heineken. Her response in a condescending manner was:

"No, we don't do anything that generic"

This infuriated me as its not like I asked for cheap lager like Carling, I am asking for a premium bottled lager. If the staff member wanted to be a snob they should at least have the decency to know what is good lager and what is not before trying to belittle a customer.

great environment but can sometimes be a bit cramped, nice cocktails and the food is mostly okay

I really liked this place. Downstairs was a very trendy bar serving a good selection of beer. It was busy and we wanted to eat so we ended up upstairs in a very cool speak easy type cocktail bar. We had burgers which were really tasty and a good bottle of wine. We didn't have cocktails but the ones being drunk on the nearby tables looked very good indeed!

Very good and fair price. Be sure to try the sweet potato fries! The best!

Chose some of the bar snacks with fries and they were great. Nice, casual location to eat

Been there on the Brooklyn brewery event, in the science and industry floor, had a great time in beer tasting, we had a tasty portions of food coming along with every beer we had, it was probably the best tasting I've ever been in, later on we been invited to join to play some games downstairs and to win some prices

Great cocktail schooling, so funny and loved it!! The staff were so good, had a right laugh

Had beef short ribs, truffle fries and collard greens. All excellent. Unusually for me, I was too full to have a dessert. Will definitely eat here again.

Big range of beers. Interesting decor. Central location

Food was average at best and took 45 mins after ordering to arrive, desserts were over half an hour late, January discount wasn't originally taken off the bill - overall a very poor experience

Small but cosy place, that typical hipster pretentious vibe with 5 pound beers and a hedonistic crowd. Think you pay for the venue - I wouldn't pay for the atmosphere though. Its saving grace is it's secret bar and of course they have one - it fits into their narrative!

Good bar, fantastic service but the food didn t live up to our expectations.

I ve regularly gone here for a few nice pints for a great atmosphere, good music and the extreme sport decor.

Tried eating here for the first time and the service was fantastic! The waitress found us a table quickly so through the bookcase we went upstairs and back in time to a smart vintage restaurant selling gastro cocktails and American food.
Firstly top marks for the waitress bringing water immediately to the table along with a cocktail menu. The house special old fashion was pleasant unlike the rum, ginger beer and milk collision I ordered for the mrs.
Are starters arrived the ribs were a winner, pretty average chicken wings and not quite persuaded by the prawn ball things.
Burger time! And what a disappointment. I went for the cane and grain burger witch was so big I had to eat it with my knife and fork witch always looses points in my books. The cheesy chips were made with the weirdest cheese it was like mash potato on top of the chips.
Overall if it wasn t down to the custmer service this places would have less than 3 starts and that s not like me!

Waited more than an hour to be served.
The waiter threw leftovers on my trousers trying to clean the table and not even apologized.
No soap at the toilets and cutlery was really dirty.
Food was tasty, but definitely not going back.

Transphobic staff members that discriminated against a friend and denied them entry who, when this attitude was challenged, they took to victim-blaming and awful back-pedalling.

Absolutely would not recommend.

Great food, amazing looking place and friendly staff

It's alright, the place has nice artwork around and some interesting fixtures on display, but the place is very sticky and dirty. Could do with a proper clean down. Fairly typical prices for the northern quarter (overpriced) and the customer service is average.

Been few times, good beer, nice music lively and good place to pass couple hours

Good beer to start the evening. I can only recommend. Small but nice. Good, large beer selection.

Great food and I think it's pretty reasonably priced. I'm a big fan of the American style bbq restaurants and this is up there with the best. The me looks small but it's almost impossible to pick what to eat, you just want to try everything. I've tried about a third of the menu and it's all good so far. If you like outrageous American style food then you won't be disappointed.

This place is on point and so is their music choice it is impeccable ! Also affordable!

Don't love the aesthetic, bathrooms are a bit naff as well, bit cramped and small. But good choice of beers and staff friendly.

Sat out in the new outdoor seating space and started looking on their online order system for what we wanted only to find out the menu on their website doesn't reflect what is actually available as they've not updated the website for ages. We wanted ribs and their trays they used to do but you can now only get a single (or 3) beef ribs or some wings or burgers.

Host was helpful in explaining situation and safety measures but food just didn't live up to expectation.

My biggest gripe is the fact that people are allowed to smoke in the outdoor seating section where others are eating which is just gross. Also the host was sparking up a cigarette at the host stand! Not sure if he went and washed his hands afterwards either.

Personally I'd go to Smokehouse or Red's if you want decent BBQ food.

Best cocktail bar I've come across in manchester so far. Definitely recommended

Excellent, authentic American BBQ.

Ribs were seriously good - but the small plates weren't very nice.

It's Just a shame to not be able to entering in this fu**ing bar... I do bot advice to any tourists..

Very expensive and attracts your stereotypical NQ hipster student.

Rude staff and the burgers and bacon were poor quality meat - avoid

Friendly staff but bit worn and tired with mass work and student crowds. I'd have loved this in my 20s I imagine.

Excellent food, excellent service, amazing experience!

Good food at a great price. Gourmet style, contemporary pub food. Great burgers! Good selection of local beers. Nice atmosphere. Really good spot when the weather is good enough to sit out so you can also get your spot on sun. Highly recommend coming here. They won't disappoint.

Have since gone back and will keep going back. Great food, drink and staff.

Lovely little place with a nice selection of drinks.

Nice little pub resturaunt. We had a stag party here and ate a lot of food. We have the catering done like a buffet style and there was so much meat that was cooked for us. I can not fault the staff.. I ate so much that I couldn't get drunk all night.

Book for cain and grain but get forced to sit upstairs and drink at a different business which is more expensive. Avoid at all costs.

This was a trendy place to grab a bite and pint. Pricing was good and the food was pretty tasty. I took a chance on a sandwich I wouldn't normally and I wasn't disappointed, but left wondering if there was something a bit better on the menu.

Friendly staff, the upstairs function room has really good decor

The food was excellent and the cocktail making class we took with Cameron was fantastic, I'd definitely recommend it

Absolutely my favourite venue in Manchester, make sure to visit every time I'm near, would definitely recommend

Very organized with everyone social distancing,staff and service good, only problem have to scan for menus etc my phone not capable

I m drunk and we ll fed. I ain t even telling you what s on the menu.. show up.

Great BBQ food and atmosphere. Young trendy crowd, if you like that sort of thing. Great selection of drinks, classic blues and rock style music. Worth ot, not on the cheap side, bit to be expected in the Northern Quarter

This place has changed.
Start with the Pros:
The Sweet Potato fries were 10/10 delicious.

The photos are representative of the food a few months ago, not now.

Now for the updated review - The ribs myself and my brother ordered were low quality garbage. Ordered sticky barbecue sauce, the ribs came dry rubbed to the max, no sauce. Couldn't taste anything but dry rub. Literally coated beyond belief in dry rub, cannot stress that enough.

The meat wasn't juicy, the fat hadn't rendered in a lot of places. The ribs were tough and chewy. I'm a fan of ribs, always finish a rack. This time, I left half a rack. That should say it all.

By the time someone came to check on our meal, we'd gotten through most of it. So not going to change and wait at that stage.

Something has changed in the past few months, and it's not a good change.

Would recommend giving this place a miss.

Below is my original Review
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Great ribs!

Fantastic little barbecue restaurant, delicious ribs and some of the best fries I've ever eaten.

Would recommend giving this place a try.

If you don't mind the Manager taking random pic of you and sending them on there phone then this is the place for you..
Have a read up Manager...

Will not be going here again neither would my friends and family....

Tasty food.
Try the big chicken burger deal (can't remember what it is called).

Updated review 2019:. The quality of food at this venue has disappointingly hit rock bottom. I really hope they can improve things.

Older review 2018: Lovely waiting staff, amazing ribs and pretty good chicken wings on the 1st floor.

I do really like the ambience and food. They could do with a few more stronger craft beers but hey they had white wine which was ok.

Great beers, prices typical of good quality and nice atmosphere.

Quirky little place with a fun option to sign the bar top! Unisex toilet so beware lol